As it is known by all, the main source of energy in the olden days was mainly coal and sometime later, also gas. Oil was usually seen as a by-product when wells were actually drilled for salt water which was considered to have ruined the wells. Gradually, this opinion changed and now oil is regarded as a very valuable source of energy in the world. More and more discoveries were made in various areas of the world to extract and consume oil. It wasnï¿½t until after the invention of the combustion engine, that the real race for oil started.

The first ever discovery of oil in the Middle East was done in Persia (now known as Iran) in the early 20th century. Since then, the exploitation and development of oil in the Middle East has had a great influence on the societies of the world. It was already known that there were a lot of areas were oil was located and which was used for different purposes but the proper extraction of oil commenced long after that. This promoted the use of oil for industries and daily life luxuries started depending widely on it. The massive amount of reserves had a tremendous effect on the rest of the countries.

By 1911, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC), a British company, set up industries in Iran to produce oil. After World War I, The British also found oil in Iraq and soon after that, oil was spotted in several other areas of the Middle East including Kuwait, Bahrain, the Arabian Peninsula, Qatar, beneath the Caspian Sea, the United Arab Emirates and many others.

Previously, during the early 20th century, the coastal cities had common problems especially that of weakness. It was only Oman and Muscat which were not under British sovereignty even though Great Britain continued a great deal to be a part of foreign affairs of the cities. It captured Baghdad in 1917 during the First World War, when the power over oil actually mattered to fuel tanks and planes and other military weapons. But it was not until 1932 that oil was discovered in Bahrain.

Back in time, the Middle East was producing less than 5% of the worlds total oil supply and more than 60% was coming from the United States, which also provided fuel, in World War II, to its Allied armies. Meanwhile, Kuwait and Saudi Arabian oil was also discovered which played a major role for the victory of the allies. Japan was weakened by cutting off its oil supply later during the war.